Volume Two: Blood on the Bodhi Tree Chapter Six: Let Me Tell You a Story

Was it him?

She Qianqian’s face darkened at once, a flicker of hatred flashing in her eyes.

In a blur, the flesh knife came free and shot straight toward Li Bai’s heart.

Xiao Yan hurried forward and seized her wrist, frowning. “What are you trying to do?”

“Rip out his heart and drink his blood!”

She Qianqian spoke each word with biting precision.

“What grudge is this?”

“An eye for an eye! He killed his wife!”

“...”

Xiao Yan was about to say more, but when he looked up and saw tears brimming in the girl’s eyes, he let go.

Li Bai, after all, was a famous man. Xiao Yan had heard of him before: the greatest warrior in the realm was already married; his wife had gone mad and thrown herself into a river, and the only daughter they left behind had vanished without a trace.

She Qianqian also loosened her grip on the knife.

“I know that in your eyes, he is a hero! He fights for his country and its people, upholding justice wherever he goes! But what kind of hero can’t even take care of his own wife?” She Qianqian seemed to be talking to herself, tears streaming down her face. She crouched beside the blood-soaked man and went on, “He deserved to die. Hero Li Bai, you taught your daughter from childhood to study martial arts hard so she could one day become a hero like you. But what good is being a hero? What did you end up with? Fame? Or a missing arm? Or perhaps a broken family and ruin all around? Hahaha...”

She Qianqian laughed and sobbed at the same time, and no one could tell whether she was crying or laughing.

Perhaps it was both.

Tears blurred her vision, and with that haze her mind drifted back ten years.

At that time, the Li family was not yet one of the ten great families of the north.

She Qianqian was still called Li Qianqian. At seven years old, she already knew that her father was the hero everyone spoke of.

“Hero Li Bai! Hero Li Bai!”

Outside the gates, the villagers called out in eager voices before the Li residence.

“Hero Li Bai fights for the country and its people, upholding justice, wiping out bandits... he is a blessing to our Linden Town!”

“Li Bai! Li Bai...”

The whole Li household took pride in him. At twenty-two, he was a hero admired by ten thousand.

Even then, She Qianqian was proud of her father.

“Mother, Mother, is a hero a very amazing person?”

Zhao Wan smiled, though her smile carried a fatigue no one noticed. “Of course. A true hero lives for the nation and the people.”

“Oh. Then when I grow up, I want to become a female hero too.” She Qianqian raised a tiny fist and said with solemn seriousness.

“Qianqian.” Zhao Wan frowned, her expression complicated. She shook her head and said, “Do not become a hero, and try your best not to fall in love with one either.”

“Why not?” She Qianqian asked, tilting her little head.

“Just remember that, good girl.” Zhao Wan patted her head and smiled, though the smile was tinged with bitterness.

“Oh.” She Qianqian’s eyes were full of confusion.

At that moment, Li Bai appeared from the other side and smiled. “Qianqian, come here. Father will teach you martial arts. In the future, you’re going to be a female hero too.”

“Oh... but...” She Qianqian trotted over on small feet.

Soon after, she also remembered the second year when he left home.

“Qianqian, Father is going out to deal with some bad men... you must stay home and mind your mother.”

“Okay, goodbye, Father.” She Qianqian nodded obediently.

Zhao Wan was already pregnant. She forced herself to the doorway and asked, reluctance in her eyes, “When will you be back this time?”

Li Bai quickly stepped forward to steady her and comforted her, “Very soon. I’ll return as quickly as I can. Don’t worry.”

“Very soon? Last time you said that too, and you were gone for two months. The child is almost due, and... can’t you not go?” Zhao Wan took Li Bai’s hand and pleaded, “Without you here, I can’t feel at ease.”

“You know bandits are causing trouble. How many people will die if no one goes? I can’t just stay away...” Li Bai gently embraced her and soothed her in a low voice.

“But... that bandit matter is for the authorities. Why must you make a fuss about it...”

“I... I am a hero!”

“Can’t you stop being a hero?”

“...”

Ten days after Li Bai left, Zhao Wan had a difficult labor.

By the time the child was delivered, it was already dead.

After that, Zhao Wan’s mind became somewhat vacant, and a few days later she took She Qianqian with her and left home, throwing herself into the river.

Every night, She Qianqian dreamed of that scene, of her mother leaping into the water.

...

But her thoughts were soon yanked back into the present.

“You... he’s about to die...” Xiao Yan frowned. He had thought the girl would speak only in short phrases, but instead she cried as she talked.

“Cough, cough...” At that very moment, Li Bai suddenly coughed, and the next instant he vomited white foam.

...

“The wound is infected. He must be treated at once,” Xiao Yan said with a frown.

“Take off his outer robe!”

She Qianqian said with reddened eyes, then drew a small knife from her person.

“What are you going to do?” Xiao Yan asked in confusion.

“Save him!” She Qianqian had returned to her former self, the cool beauty who spoke little.

But as She Qianqian slowly opened the bandaged wound, she frowned slightly and asked, “How long has he been injured?”

“Two days...” Xiao Yan calculated and nodded.

“Hm?” A trace of surprise flashed in She Qianqian’s eyes. The wound looked nothing like one that had been left for two days.

She had seen many patients, and some wounds had begun to rot halfway within half a day, let alone a full day.

What she did not know was that Xiao Yan had cleaned the wound before bandaging it, so the bacterial infection was not nearly as severe.

Xiao Yan, however, assumed she thought his bandaging was too rough, and explained, “There were no tools, and the cloth was only scalded in hot water.”

“Oh...”

Perhaps it was a matter of the difference between ancient and modern medical knowledge.

She Qianqian did not quite understand, so she gave a perfunctory response.

Seeing She Qianqian examine Li Bai’s wound, Xiao Yan noticed the little knife in her hand and guessed she meant to cut away the dead flesh from his arm. He hurriedly asked, nervous, “Wait! What are you doing? You can’t just clean the wound like that. The knife has to be sterilized!”

“What do you mean, sterilized? Stop talking nonsense! Get out of the way...” She Qianqian frowned and said coldly.

“No—at least burn it with fire. There are a lot of germs on the blade; it’ll help prevent reinfection!” Xiao Yan snatched the knife from her hand and held it in the flames for quite a while before handing it back.

She Qianqian frowned, said nothing, and only seemed unable to understand why he had done that. She shook her head and continued cleaning the wound.

It had to be said that the knife skills of people in ancient times were truly impressive; removing the dead flesh never touched the major artery.

Xiao Yan finally understood what all of She Qianqian’s knives were for. Blades of different sizes were just right for wounds of different depths.

He watched in admiration.

When all that was done, She Qianqian simmered some medicinal herbs and slowly fed them to Li Bai.

Only then did Li Bai’s complexion improve somewhat, though he remained unconscious.

What worried her most now was whether the wound would continue to worsen. As for the blood loss, the herbs should be enough.

The night grew deep, and wind rustled through the branches with a soft, whispering sound.

For wanderers of the martial world, setting up camp on the road was nothing unusual. Xiao Yan found it rather enjoyable, like camping.

The fire crackled and popped. She Qianqian merely stared at Li Bai without a word, sometimes with anger, sometimes with sorrow.

The atmosphere was awkward.

“Ahem, Da Biao... you don’t actually need to worry so much... he should be fine,” Xiao Yan said with a frown, trying to comfort her.

“I hope he dies!” She Qianqian ground out.

“So tsundere...” Xiao Yan shook his head. Looking at Li Bai’s empty sleeve, he suddenly thought of something and said, “How about I tell you a story?”

“You can just shut up.”

“This story is called The Condor Heroes...” Xiao Yan began to tell it slowly.

For Xiao Yan, it was also a way of strengthening his own memory, since many things from before his transmigration had already grown hazy.

He only remembered the general outline of The Condor Heroes, along with those two lines that made people instantly understand.

“Guo’er, where is your hand?”

“As long as I can be with Auntie, what difference does it make whether I have a left hand or not?”

In the ancient world there had never been much in the way of entertainment, and the old storybooks were only good for amusing children.

Compared with them, the story of The Condor Heroes was genuinely good. As Xiao Yan slowly sorted it out, it took on a special flavor, far more interesting than any storybook.

At first, She Qianqian found Xiao Yan annoying and had no desire to hear any story at all.

Yet as the plot of The Condor Heroes unfolded from Xiao Yan’s lips, She Qianqian gradually began to listen with real attention.

She had never heard such an interesting tale. In the past, her family had also invited storytellers to come and recite tales, but those stories were not nearly as good.

The beauty of her face slowly shifted with the joys and sorrows of the characters within it.